Intertwined Destinies

DISCLAIMER: I don't own DBZ or Elfen Lied.

CHAPTER 4: The Chase Continues

Rain poured down from the ebony skies above Kamakura. Thunder exploded and lightning flashed. It was utterly miserable weather, and steam rose from the breath of everybody outside, like it was winter. Within a hastily assembled makeshift structure of cardboard boxes and a tarp, a teenage girl sat, perhaps thirteen or fourteen. She was very poorly dressed to be out in such terrible conditions; she wore a cream-colored yellow sweater and no pants, just some white panties as well as a pair of shoes. The girl possessed brown-black hair and bangs that framed her face, as though someone was ushering her on stage, and soulful, sorrowful violet-black eyes that held a world of deep suffering and hardship, something that most typical teenaged girls never truly experienced. In her lap she held a tiny dog, which barked pathetically.

"I guess we're both hungry, huh?" the girl said to the dog.

The girl glanced back out at the stormy skies. It was definitely a bad time to be out and about and exposed to the elements, but she would not go back... she'd rather die than return to that life. She sighed as the incoming sounds of a helicopter flying nearby broke her out of her stupor and she shifted a bit closer to the entrance of the structure to get a better view of what was happening.

And there, high up in the sky, was a military helicopter, flying closer to the town.

"All right, ladies!" the chief said. "The police have already been scrambled. They're searching the city now, and once we receive her location, we'll immediately head to the site. Remember, kill her as quickly as possible. We do NOT take any chances."

Takenouchi gripped his rifle tighter. I'm going to enjoy this, he thought.

Bando yawned. Everyone else glared at the rogue soldier as he rose to his feet.

"Bando!" the commander snapped at him, sounding very angry.

"That's stupid," Bando said. "Later, chief."

The rain and wind slammed into the open bay as Bando released the landing ramp, pummeling the other soldiers with enormous force. Only their rigid discipline kept them seated in their positions, enduring the horrible weather as best as they could while the helicopter flew toward Kamakura. The commanding officer was practically trembling in rage.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"If this target is so dangerous we can shoot without warning, well then, looks like it's hunt or be hunted," Bando answered, flashing them all a devil-may-care grin. "I know how it goes! Drop me off already."

"You!" the officer growled, and then he sighed. "Fine, if you're so eager, then I guess you can go." He turned to face two other soldiers. "Satou, Takenouchi, I'm ordering you two to head out with Bando!"

"Yes sir!" they both replied promptly.

"Huh, you'd better get not get in my way," Bando said derisively, turning back to face the blowing storm and the raging wind. The rogue soldier smirked, still caught up in the thrill of the hunt and the desire to kill.

"You'll only slow me down."

Once Gohan and Yuka were outside the entrance to the inn, Yuka pulled out an umbrella she'd grabbed from the coat closet. She offered to find one for Gohan too, but Gohan just shook his head — even with all his wounds he could still move plenty quick, faster than the average human — an umbrella would slow him down and impede his efforts to locate Nyuu.

"I say we split up," Gohan suggested. "That way, we both have a better chance of finding her then."

"Good idea, Gohan-san," Yuka agreed, but then she frowned concernedly. "But please, be careful, alright? Those wounds haven't fully healed yet, and without an umbrella you could catch a cold."

Gohan smiled at her, touched by her concern. "Okay, I promise."

Yuka looked out at the sheets of rain pouring down all around them. "If we haven't located her in an hour, we should come back here and call the police. Maybe they'll have better luck searching for her than we do."

Gohan nodded.

"Can I come, Nii-chan?" Goten asked him.

Gohan glanced down at the little boy.

"You're more useful to me by staying here, Goten-chan," he said, reaching down and ruffling the young Saiyan's hair. "You stay behind with Kouta-san and one of you can come find us if Nyuu-san comes back, okay?"

"All right, I understand," Goten said petulantly, but he turned back and obediently trotted back into the house.

Gohan turned to Yuka. "Okay, let's head out!"

Gohan and Yuka turned in opposite directions and then headed their separate ways down the street, Gohan moving with as much as speed he knew a normal human was capable of, and when Gohan was certain that Yuka had gone and nobody was watching him, he closed his eyes and focused on his ki — the life force buried within him, which granted him all the powers he could use. An expression of deep concentration appeared on his countenance and an aura of white energy surrounded him, radiating off his body in rippling waves. Then, in a display which would have sent any innocent bystander running home and screaming for their mommies, another separate body tore itself off from Gohan, followed by another, so that standing there, occupying the space only one boy before had stood in, were three, totally identical Gohans.

"You know what to do," one of them said.

"Yeah," the second one said with a nod of his head.

"If you see her, just raise your power level and Goten will know we've found her," the third said.

"Okay, time to move!" the second one said.

Kouta remained back at Maple House, sitting in the living area, lost in his own thoughts, thinking about Nyuu and all that had transpired over the course of that long, bitter evening as tears tracked down his eyes.

"I think she understood," Yuka's voice echoed through his head. "She knew the seashell made you sad."

"Haven't you looked into her eyes?" And now it was Gohan's words Kouta heard. "They're innocent. She's like a baby. She wasn't trying to hurt you, Kouta-san. She just didn't know any better the same way a little girl wouldn't know better."

"Have I been just one big idiot?" Kouta said out loud.

And then, the image of Nyuu's eyes entered his mind. Gohan was right; Nyuu's eyes were large, wide, and bubbly like a child's, but they held no malice in them, no evil — just an innocent purity and a love for the world; even Kouta could not help but smile involuntarily as he saw it, despite all Nyuu did to him, but that happy image was shattered the next minute as he recalled how her eyes had looked after he yelled at her; they were no longer wide and innocent, but wobbling dangerously as tears filled them, and contained deep pain and suffering, but more than that, there was confusion. She hadn't known what she was doing wrong, all she knew was that she was hurting because of it.

"He was right..." Kouta mumbled. "She didn't know... oh Kami, what have I done? What have I done?"

Even if she had hurt him, he still didn't have to be so harsh on her. And as he came to realize the enormity of all that had happened that awful night, Kouta just sat there, giving full license to vent all the pain and remorse and sorrow raging in his heart, as he cried and cried; he couldn't remember crying this much since his father and sister died. If only Kanae could see him now... what would she think of him, acting this way?

"Wait, what am I doing?" Kouta said. "I can't be sitting here feeling sorry for myself. I helped create this whole mess. I have to help clean it up." Kouta sat up straight, wiping the tears from his eyes while his resolve grew stronger, and he stood up, looking determined. "I-I owe it to Nyuu. I can't let her suffer like this. She doesn't deserve it."

Kouta moved out of the living room, stumbling a little as he headed into the front hallway. He was just about to head out the front door to join Yuka and Gohan on their search when there came a knock at the door.

"Huh?" Kouta said.

As far as he knew, everyone in town thought that this building was empty; who was knocking on the door?

"Hey, come on, quit messing around," Kouta said as he headed towards the door, assuming it was Yuka and Gohan who had come back; maybe they'd found Nyuu. "You know it's not lock — huh?"

He had just opened the door, and there stood two men in overcoats protecting them against the downpour. One of the men poked his head in, looking confused, as if he didn't know whether he had come to the right place. This man was shorter than his counterpart, and he seemed to be a lot older than the other man who was standing alongside him.

"I thought this was a vacant house," he said.

"Yeah, I, uh, moved in here today," Kouta explained. "Excuse me, but can I help you?"

The second man, who looked to be larger and younger, spoke next, pulling something from his overcoat and showing it to Kouta. On close examination, Kouta realized that it was a golden star-shaped badge.

"We're the police," he said.

"If you'll cooperate with us, we need your help with our investigation," the first man — apparently a policeman — added.

"Why's that?" Kouta asked blankly. "Did something happen?" A thought struck him, and his heart twisted with sudden horror and fear. "Oh Kami, did something bad happen to Yuka-chan or Gohan-san?"

With the Yakuza after Gohan and his cousin out alone with him, they would be easy prey for the ruthless gangsters. Even if Gohan did know martial arts he was injured and couldn't take them all in a fight. Dark, horrible thoughts flashed through Kouta's brain, each becoming worse than the previous ones; that they had fallen upon the helpless Gohan and Yuka in a wave of gore and violence, slashing them to pieces with their swords and carving out their insides or just plain shooting them until they slumped over dead, or perhaps something even more awful than that, Kouta realized with growing horror, that they'd seen Yuka, his beloved cousin, had noticed how beautiful she was and backed her up against the wall as they tore her clothes off her so they could —

Kouta latched onto the front of the second policeman's shirt and began pulling on it.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his heart beating quicker and quicker in tune with his mounting fear. "Did the Yakuza come after them? Were they hurt? Tell me what happened! Oh, Kami, they're not dead, are they?"

The policeman smacked Kouta's arms away.

"Hands off!" he barked. "This is an official investigation, and we're asking the ones asking the questions here, got it?"

"Cool it!" the older policeman snapped at his colleague. "You're not helping matters." He turned back to face Kouta and offered the young man a reassuring smile. "It's okay, we're not here to tell you anyone you know has been hurt. That's not the reason we've come."

Kouta breathed a massive sigh of relief.

"We're actually wondering if you've seen this girl," the man went on, pulling out a photograph.

Kouta almost gasped out loud at what he now saw. It was Nyuu! The same pink hair, red eyes, and horns — there was no doubt that the girl these two policemen were searching for was, in fact, Nyuu. Kouta was about to tell the two police officers that his cousin Yuka and Gohan had gone looking for them when a sudden suspicion entered into his head. What if Nyuu had done something wrong? Why were the police looking for her?

"Why do you ask?" Kouta inquired. "Did she do something wrong?"

"Hey, stop asking dumb questions, kid!" the larger, younger officer said heatedly. It was such a surprising response for such an innocent question that Kouta couldn't help but be taken aback. "So, have you seen or not? Answer me!"

He made to push forward, whether to physically assault Kouta, he wasn't clear, but the older man held his hand out and held back his younger colleague, despite the apparent differences in their sizes.

"Just calm down!" he admonished him. Turning to Kouta, the older police officer drastically softened his tone. "Don't worry about it, young man. She's been lost for a day and her parents are worried about her, that's all."

He said it earnestly, quite straightforward and sincere. One could almost have believed the words he was saying, but, for Kouta... there was some subtle differences, a slight inflection missing or something wrong with his voice which led him to believe that this policeman was holding something back, whether for sinister purposes or because he just didn't think Kouta could handle it, he couldn't say, but he did get the feeling these two officers weren't telling him the complete truth.

And so Kouta did the one thing he never thought he'd do in front of an officer of the law: He lied.

"She's... lost?" Kouta said slowly. "I don't know her."

The second policeman narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Kouta very closely, as though analyzing his very soul, trying to determine whether or not he was telling them the truth, while the first officer seemed to take Kouta at his word.

"I see," he said. "If you happen to run into her, would you please contact the police?"

Kouta nodded.

"Thanks for your help," the older man said. He turned to his partner. "Let's go."

"Right," the second man said.

The two headed down the path and out the front entrance, heading back to their car, leaving behind a very pensive-looking Kouta. In his thoughtful mood, Kouta never heard the footsteps coming down the stairs, nor that they were moving closer to him, though he did feel it when something started tugging on his shirttail, and the young man looked down to discover two innocent, charcoal pupils gazing up into his own.

"Is everything all right, Kouta-san?" Goten asked him.

Kouta shook his head. "I... I don't know," he murmured. But, one thing was sure; he had to go look for Yuka and Gohan. Things weren't right here — they had to find Nyuu before the police got to her first!

He glanced at the little boy standing next to him.

"Hey, Goten, do you think you can help me with something?" he asked the seven-year-old.

"Oh, sure!" Goten cried delightedly. "I'm ready for anything, Kouta-san! Please just tell me what to do!"

"I want you to remain behind in case Nyuu comes back," Kouta said, and the boy's tail drooped dejectedly. "I'm going to go out and look for Yuka-chan and Gohan-san and maybe together we could locate Nyuu before something bad happens to her."

"Awww, no fair!" Goten whined, pouting his lower lip. "I get stuck behind while you three go out and have all the fun? No, please, let me go! I want to go! Please, Kouta-san, why can't I go? I'm old enough! Please, Kouta-san, I just wanna help!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down!" Kouta urged him, placing two hands on his shoulders. "Just settle down, Goten!"

Kouta wracked his brain, trying to think of some way to resolve the situation.

"If you stay, I'll buy you a toy, all right?" Kouta offered slowly.

It did the trick. Instantly, Goten's entire expression changed, from crushing disappointment to total, complete excitement.

"Oooh, really?" he chirped happily. "What kind of a toy? Do you mean it? Will it be the Gold Fighter action figure or one of those transforming mecha? Or do you wanna buy me something else? Oh, I'm so excited! When will you get me a toy? Do you want me to come along when you buy it so I can pick out what I like, or is it going to be a surprise, like my birthday?"

He was speaking so fast that Kouta could barely follow it, the words just blurring together into a big stream so that all Kouta could pick out were a bunch of incoherent sentences and random words he couldn't even begin to make heads or tails of.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Kouta said, the boy's youthful enthusiasm nearly too much for him to bear. Was I ever this bad? "Just cool it, alright? I'll buy it for you tomorrow — in the meantime, just remain here, okay?"

Goten nodded. "Okay!"

And Kouta ran out the front door, heading out into the night and hoping beyond all hope with every fiber of his being he and his cousin and Gohan would find Nyuu and rescue her from his own mistake...

Once he had split into three, each Gohan went off in different directions to try and locate Nyuu on their own. Currently, one of the copies was flying in the air over a deserted patch of green countryside hugging the forest, hoping to see if he could spot Nyuu from above.

"Aw, man, nothing!" he said. "Where could she be?"

Just then, he heard a commotion from down below, and he turned to look at it.

"Please, stop!" a girl was shouting. "We didn't do anything to you!"

To his utter horror, Gohan saw a bunch of yellow-haired thugs surrounding a young man and a girl, three of which were beating on the boy as the girl watched helplessly. They were quite a distance from the nearest road, too, so it wasn't likely they'd be receiving any help.

"Please, leave Tasomu-kun alone!" she begged them, struggling against the two who were holding her back.

"Patience there, girly, you'll get your turn soon enough," one of the young punks said, licking his lips as his eyes roamed all over her body — it was obvious what he had in mind, and he chuckled suggestively into her ear, but Gohan had excellent hearing, and he was able to pick up everything that he spoke to the girl. "If you know what I mean..."

The girl apparently picked up on the meaning behind that punk's words, the same as Gohan had, and she began struggling all the more fiercely against their hold, but they were too large and strong so she resorted to screaming.

"HELP!" she shouted. "RAPE! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP —"

And then the second thug savagely backhanded her and the girl whimpered in pain. The two thugs forced her down to the ground, and the first one placed his hand over her mouth, so she couldn't call out, while the second punk pinned her legs and the first thug had her arms wrapped behind her by using his other hand — it was quite clear she wasn't going to be able to yell for help.

"Shut up, bitch, and accept your punishment like a woman!" the second punk said as she tried kicking her legs at them, to no avail. He smirked, leaning in close to her and licking her cheek. Even from this distance, her spasm of disgust was obvious. "Maybe if we're lucky, we can all have a turn..."

Gohan's blood was boiling in the way that only injustice and cruelty could bring out in him, and before he knew it, he was rocketing down to earth below, ready to teach those young thugs a lesson and make sure they never hurt anybody again. As one the gang of thugs turned to face the new intruder, drawn to the sound he had made when hit solid ground once again.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the punks beating up the boy demanded. "Where did you come from?"

"Who I am is no concern of yours," Gohan said briskly, his eyes narrowed and his skin pressing tightly against his skull, drawing his features down into a fearsome death glare. "What do you think you're doing? What are you picking on these two? What did they ever do to deserve that?"

"We don't have to justify ourselves to you, kid!" one of the thugs snarled. "Now go away before we get mad."

"No," Gohan retorted. "I am going to say this only once; release these two and get out of here and you won't be harmed."

"Did you hear that?" the tallest and burliest of the thugs laughed. He seemed like the leader. "Boys, looks like we got a hero here!"

The gang laughed, and the three holding onto the poor boy dropped him to the grass, where he lay, unconscious. Two of them kept holding on to the girl, but, they, too, eyed the young man who had decided to take them on with wicked amusement shining in their eyes, like a tiger stalking its wounded prey. The other three moved to encircle Gohan.

"Who does this boy think he is?" the leader said, placing his hand on the hilt of a katana sheathed near his belt, a cruel smirk playing across his features. "Why, he has normal black hair! How disgraceful. There's nothing I hate more than a conformist."

"He must have some sort of death wish taking us on like this," the second thug said haughtily. "I guess we should oblige his wish, then, unless, of course, you feel like begging, and we might let you live."

A disgusted look appeared on Gohan's face.

"You're despicable," he snorted. "I gave you a chance to redeem yourselves, and you mock me." Then slowly, a smirk very similar to the five thugs grew across Gohan's countenance. "But, hey, if you don't like my hair, I can always change it for you."

And with that, Gohan powered up into Super Saiyan, the transformation coming a bit harder due to all his injuries, but he had long since mastered the Super Saiyan state, which made it easier than it may have been otherwise. Gohan's aura glowed around him, and it felt comforting to be surrounded by so much of his own power.

The three gang members backed up, surprised at what they were seeing.

"What the hell?" the leader said. "What are you doing?"

"How is this possible?" another punk said. "Did he grow up too close to a nuclear power plant?"

"It doesn't matter!" the leader yelled, shaking his head. "Get him!"

"Right!" the other two chanted as the three lunged at him.

With a single smirk, Gohan moved quicker than these three thugs could even see — a punch, a kick, and a chop to the back of the neck were all that was necessary to take out the three thugs, though Gohan carefully restrained his power, and avoided using that much force; he didn't wanna kill them, after all, and so Gohan's blows were enough to render them all unconscious and would leave them in pain for maybe several hours, but spared their lives.

The other two thugs, seeing their comrades fall so quickly to the mysterious youth, decided to take extreme measures, and they pulled out a gun and a knife. The first punk pressed the knife up against the throat of the girl, whose skin had gone pale and whimpered in fear, as the other punk aimed the gun right at Gohan, who regarded it coolly.

"Don't come any closer or we'll kill her!" the thug with the knife said. "I mean it! We'll slice her throat up!"

With that, the punk holding the gun smirked and shot at Gohan in several successive rounds, all of which Gohan simply dodged. Moving faster than before, the two gang members suddenly found their gun and knife ripped out of their hands. With exclamations of shock, they looked around wildly for the weapons, only to find them both in the hands of Gohan, who was staring at them with stern judgment.

"You're pathetic, resorting to hostage-taking to try and win," he said, and then he crushed the gun in his bare hands.

Now shaking with pure terror and knowing they stood absolutely no chance against him, the two punks quickly let the girl go and both ran off, almost tripping over themselves in their haste to flee the scene. Gohan let them go, since he didn't like hurting people that much.

The girl, meanwhile, stared at Gohan with worshipful eyes.

"I don't know who are you, but thank you," she said gratefully. "Those men would have killed us if you hadn't come along."

Gohan smiled reassuringly at her. "It was no big deal. But I've gotta be going now. Will you be able to handle things from here?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, I think so."

And so Gohan took off into the air again, leaving the girl standing there gaping at the sight of him flying off, but that seemed secondary to him, now that the situation was resolved — he had to find Nyuu.

Another Gohan copy raced down the streets of Kamakura, looking in alleys and asking people if they had seen a pink-haired young girl with horns, but no one had, and Gohan was beginning to grow desperate.

Nyuu-san, where are you? he thought with worry.

Suddenly there was the roar of screeching tires on pavement, and Gohan turned to find two cars barreling down on him, the headlights flashing through the thick sheet of rain. The half-Saiyan jumped to the side and narrowly avoided getting run down as a plain-looking brown car sped off with a police car in hot pursuit.

"They shouldn't be driving that way," Gohan said. "They could hit someone. I should probably step in, but I don't want to be identified by the police later on. I suppose I could always go Super Saiyan like I did for that one girl." He smiled. "Okay, looks like the Gold Fighter is back in action."

With a flash his hair turned gold and Gohan took off after them. Meanwhile, the three thugs inside the car continued to speed wildly across streets, as pedestrians leaped out of the way and cars honked furiously as they nearly crashed into them. One of the thugs had his upper body poking out the back window as he shot back at the police car following them, forcing it to swerve to avoid getting hit with gun fire.

"Hurry up, Okubo!" the thug shooting at the cops cried. "We can't hold 'em off forever!"

"Hold on, Miyamoto!" the thug at the wheel said. "This should shake 'em!"

And he slowed down just enough for the cops to pull alongside them, but once they had, he twisted the car to the side, shoving the police to the side, where they collided with a parked car. Okubo laughed at the sight and turned his attention back to the road, where a golden-haired young boy was standing, not even attempting to get out of their way.

"Ooh, looks like target practice!" Okubo laughed as he increased the speed, hoping to run him over.

Just before he could splatter the young man everywhere in an explosion of blood and guts, Gohan put his hands on the hood and dug his feet in — and to their amazement, the car began slowing down!

"What are you doing?" the third thug screamed. "Step on it! Run him down!"

"I'm trying, Komada!" Okubo yelled. "It's not working!"

He slammed his foot down on the accelerator rapidly, but it was no use as the car finally came to a complete stop.

"What do we do now?" Komada asked.

"We fight," Miyamoto said with a grin. "I'd love to see what this boy looks like as Swiss cheese."

The three thugs exited the car. Gohan stood there, regarding them with a gimlet stare as they left. All around them, people watched with curiosity and apprehension as the four prepared to duke it out there on the streets. Several timid — or perhaps intelligent, depending on your perspective — onlookers turned tail and ran off, clearly hoping to avoid getting involved in this inevitable violence, whether they wanted to or not, but they weren't in Gohan's mind at that moment; he wouldn't let any innocent get hurt, so for now, they were simply distractions.

"That was a very dangerous stunt that you pulled," he told them angrily. "Innocent people could have been hurt!"

"That was a dangerous stunt, but not as dangerous as the one you're pulling now, kid," Okubo laughed, pulling out a pipe.

"Yeah, we're the Ao Ookami!" Komada said as he whipped out a pair of nun chucks. "And we'll be sinking our teeth in soon!"

"Now dance, kid!" Miyamoto said, aiming at Gohan's feet and firing repeatedly.

Those curious observers who had remained now tore out of there at lightning speed, anxious to be away from the mad lunatics with a gun, but Gohan just stood there, unflinchingly, eyes locked on three gang members, as Miyamoto kept on blasting away. After a couple seconds he stopped, looking crestfallen at the young man's lack of response.

"What's up with this kid?" he whined, sounding like a three-year-old whose father said he couldn't have the toy he wanted. "He didn't even try to dodge them! That just takes all of the fun out of it, you know!"

"He's so terrified he can't even move!" Okubo laughed. "The fear must have made him insane!"

"Well, I'll just have to get him to move," Komada said confidently as he lunged at him with his nun chucks.

He began swinging at Gohan, who dodged each and every blow from the twin bars. After a few seconds of merely watching Komada growing frustrated, he ducked to the side, grabbing onto one of Komada's nun chucks.

"What the?!" he said. "How'd you do that, kid?!"

Gohan pulled on the chain, dragging the criminal closer to him, and when he was near enough, Gohan buried his fist in Komada's stomach. The force from the blow sent Komada flying, who landed on his back, clutching at his stomach, as he rolled around in a pathetic heap on the pavement, completely incapacitated.

"You bastard!" Miyamoto roared, unleashing a hail of machine gun fire at Gohan's torso.

In a flash, Gohan dodged every shot and shot in front of Miyamoto. With a smirk he delivered a strong uppercut to his chin, knocking him back and sending the gun flying out of his hands. However, while he had been busy taking out Miyamoto, Okubo had come from behind and swung his lead pipe down on Gohan's shoulder. Gohan turned in time to see it coming, but not to stop it. Okubo was sure he had him.

So it came as something of a surprise when the pipe slammed into Gohan's shoulder and just vibrated as if Okubo had struck something unyielding and tough, like cement or steel. He winced as it felt like his body was shaking to the pipe's recoil, his teeth rattling in his mouth.

"Bad vibrations?" Gohan said, his smirk widening.

And then he kicked the unfortunate thug across the waist, sending Okubo smashing against the car behind him. He slid down the metal frame and sprawled on the street, unconscious, but still breathing.

It was then that the policemen from before came running up, guns drawn. During the entire fight, they had been paralyzed by indecision and disbelief at all that they were watching, wondering whether they had been dreaming. As they ran closer to him, Gohan could make out identical looks of shock on their face. Further in the distance, Gohan could hear sirens steadily approaching — their backup, no doubt.

"What... but... how?" one of officers said.

"You took them all out!" the second policeman said. "Effortlessly!"

Gohan could sense that they were unsure what to make of him, whether he was trying to help them out or a new threat that had to be taken care of. The half-Saiyan turned and gave them both a smile so that they wouldn't be scared of him.

"Just helping to keep the crime down, officers," he said with a slight bow.

The two officers exchanged twin looks of surprise, obviously taken aback by what he'd said.

"Um, yes..." the first officer said. "Yes, we appreciate the help."

"But who are you?" the second demanded. "How were you able to do all that?"

"Just tell the citizens of Kamakura that the Gold Fighter is on the case," Gohan said with a salute. "And now, I do apologize, but I really must be taking my leave of you, officers. See you again, and have a nice night!"

And he flew off into the dark and stormy night as the sirens came closer to the scene of the crime, leaving behind two very stunned and very confused police officers behind, knowing with certainty that the other officers would never believe them...

One of the Gohan copies was getting desperate. After saving a cat stuck in a tree and returning him to the arms of the beaming little girl he had resumed his search for Nyuu, but he couldn't find her. It was like she had vanished off the face of the Earth!

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" Gohan cried desperately, to no avail. "Nyuu, where are you? Nyuu! Damn it, where is she?"

"Nii-chan?" a voice near his elbow asked.

Gohan jumped around, startled out of his wits, and Goten stood there, gazing up at him with concerned eyes.

"Goten-chan, what are you doing out here?" Gohan scolded. "I told you to remain at the inn."

Goten hung his head sadly. "I know, I know, that's what Kouta-san said too, but I could sense you going Super Saiyan several times, and your ki felt really tense and scared. I was getting worried, Nii-chan. I just had to make sure you were okay."

Gohan sighed. This was all his fault. He should have done a better job suppressing his emotions.

"No, I'm sorry, Goten-chan," Gohan said, ruffling the little boy's hair. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I won't lie to you, I'm really scared for Nyuu-san; I-I don't know where she is and I can't seem to find her anywhere!"

"Oh," Goten said, sounding thoughtful. "Well, why don't you just feel out her power level?"

Gohan simply stared at his younger brother, gaping. He could have fallen flat on his face from sheer "duh." Of course; feel out her ki! How stupid was he? In all his years of life, Gohan had never felt so foolish, and small, tiny and worthless.

"Oh," he said, laughing nervously. "I guess I could do that."

Gohan really hated feeling like an idiot. But that's not important now, he thought. I have to locate Nyuu.

He closed his eyes, gathered his senses, and then extended them outward, to the areas surrounding him. Fortunately, Gohan had a high power level, even in his normal form, and his ki sense could reach to more than a dozen light-years into outer space, if the power level was large enough, but the problem was that for small, underdeveloped ki, separating it from the mass of ki that constituted the population of the Earth was a difficult task — even with Gohan's own high power level.

"Nyuu, where are you?" he muttered. "Why can't I —?"

And then it hit him. Quite literally. There she was. It was tiny, but it was the same ki he had felt briefly while he was in the Maple Inn with Yuka and Kouta, and more than that, it felt sad, as if the girl's heart was breaking in two.

"Nii-chan, there she is!" Goten cried.

"I know, I feel it too, Goten-chan," the older boy said.

"But... there's something weird about it..." Goten muttered.

"What?" Gohan said, gazing down at his little brother.

Goten looked up at him. "Can't you feel it? It's like her ki is split in half."

Gohan focused his senses on her again, and indeed, he could feel it, buried deep within the sad, innocent personality of Nyuu, lay a darker and colder sensation to her ki, like suppressed hatred, all the negative and cruel things Gohan had once sensed, in Piccolo, in Vegeta, and in Frieza and all the enemies they had ever fought in their lifetimes.

But then Gohan shook his head. "We'll worry about that later."

"Are we gonna go get her, Nii-chan?" Goten said hopefully.

"Yes," Gohan said. He looked down at Goten. "Will you please go get Kouta and Yuka for me? Tell them we found Nyuu."

Goten pouted. "Aw, why do I always miss the fun stuff?"

"If you go, I'll buy you a toy," Gohan promised, knowing that that always worked with Goten.

"OH WOW!" Goten cried, his tail wagging happily. "A toy? You mean I get TWO toys? Wow, thank you, thank you, thank you, Nii-chan!"

Gohan chuckled. "It's no problem. But you'd better go. Tell Kouta and Yuka I'll meet them back at the inn."

"I will, I will!" Goten said as he ran off into the distance, and Gohan set himself about the task of going to retrieve Nyuu.

Maybe then I'll figure out what that second power level is all about...

In the rain-soaked coastline, with their vision greatly impeded and their clothes drenched, Bando, Satou, and Takenouchi continued their search for their target, and Bando was getting progressively angrier.

Damn it! Where is she? he thought. Where is my prey?

Satou turned to face Takenouchi. "So, you've had experience with this sort of thing, right?"

Takenouchi's lips tightened. "If you mean dealing with the Diclonii, then yes, I have."

"What can you tell us about them?" Satou asked.

"They're heartless, cold-blooded monsters who'll chop your heads off the moment you turn your back on them," he spat angrily.

Satou gulped. "Sounds like it's personal for you."

"Oh, it is," Takenouchi said, visions of his wife passing through his mind, and that unnatural thing she gave birth to. I swear I'll kill every last one of them if it's the last thing I ever do! I will make them pay for taking my wife and daughter away from me!

"Well, what do we do when we meet her?" Satou inquired.

"Just kill her before she gets a chance to attack," Takenouchi said, only half listening to Satou. The vengeful soldier glanced down at the marks tattooed onto his left arm. "This will make my seventh kill."

BOOM!

Suddenly, a bullet shot dangerously close to Takenouchi's head, courtesy of Bando.

"What the fuck was that?" Takenouchi snarled, turning to glare at the rogue soldier hatefully.

"This is my prey, so I'll kindly thank you to stay out of my way!" Bando said loudly.

"You may be in charge here, asshole, but when it comes to killing Diclonii, you don't have the experience I do!" Takenouchi fired back harshly. "They'll shred you into a bloody mess with that attitude!"

"Oh yeah?" Bando said, cocking his shotgun at Takenouchi. "You wanna try it, Private? You think you can do a better job than me? This is what we were born for — killing! If you think you could do that job better than me, go ahead, I dare you! Just try and shoot me!"

"Whoa, calm down!" Satou said, trying to restore order amongst the two hot-headed men. "This isn't what we're here for!"

"Just shut up!" Takenouchi growled. "This guy's really beginning to get on my nerves."

"Whoever's the stronger among us deserves to make the kill," Bando said, circling the two men, poor Satou being caught in the middle. "If I can't take you out then I don't have any right to try to take down the target. Now you can't get any fairer than that."

"Bring it on, asshole," Takenouchi said.

Satou glanced hopelessly between the two men, worried that hostilities were going to break out any time, with one of them dead — and with him having to explain to their superiors. But then, off in the distance, further down the beach, he caught sight of something which made him gasp.

"Guys, look," he said, nodding in that direction.

Both Bando and Takenouchi turned, and there, kneeling on the sandy ground, digging around in the dirt, was a poorly-dressed girl with long pink hair and horns, her tears hidden by all the rain pouring down...